Friday, November 28, 2008

MySpace take your name - for a redirect

Mobile, the band, have been building a fan base through their carefully-nurtured MySpace for the last two years. They're just about to head out on their biggest tour ever. So, they're a little annoyed - to say the least - that MySpace have stolen their URL. Hypebot quotes Don Affleck, the band's manager:

This is a fucking joke right?!?! Nope, apparently Team-Myspace (fuck
ya!) came down and rained fire on Mobile's myspace url because they are launching their "mobile" platform whose url is:
www.myspace.com/myspacemobile

The band's url WAS: www.myspace.com/mobile --- so they're not even
using the band's actual url!! They just couldn't stand to lose any
eyeballs during their marketing roll-out of their wonderful new service!!!

So now, after 2 years of the band authentically building and nurturing relationships online, Team-Myspace click-fucks the band out of their url.

NOW I understand why music lovers AND musicians are migrating away from Myspace and onto Facebook, Bebo etc. -- TRUST -- there can be no trust in a place that can takeover one's address at will -- how would a community service survive if users knew that at any moment their little plot of cyberspace could be stripped away?!? I can understand if you threatened to kill the president or suggested that your big black van was a sweet innocent candy store....but isn't Myspace all about the music?? Didn't they just launch their music service in the USA??? But Myspace isn't about the music.....never has been....this is about generating advertising revenue. Funny thing is, shit like this proves Team-Myspace only knows how to beat a dead horse; and who the fuck is gonna' be friends with a dead horse when the alternatives are active communities which users can trust?

A small, pointless move - if they really were worried about people getting confused, they could at least have offered the band the opportunity to keep their URL in return for a 'looking for MySpace's mobile service? Really? It's here' banner - or at least to put a banner to the new URL on the mobile site.

What makes it worse is the random URL that was going to be given to the band - so they've not only got one change, there's going to be another change when they finally get to choose another URL. Given that this is one member, could someone - perhaps "Tom" - at least have given them the chance to choose the new URL before shunting them away?


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